PORTLAND, Ore.-Directory assistance provider Metro One Telecommunications Inc. said it received notice that its stock is in danger of being de-listed from the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. The company said it plans to appeal the decision.
Metro One’s stock, which trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “INFO,” closed below the stock exchange’s $1 minimum bid for 30 consecutive days as of July 20, 2005. Metro One was granted 180 days, or until Jan. 17, 2006, to get its stock above $1 per share. However, the stock, which had been trading above 50 cents per share since May, slipped even further in November and now trades around 40 cents per share.
Metro One used to provide enhanced directory assistance for major wireless carriers but has been losing contracts over the past several years. In 2002, Sprint Corp. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. said they would not renew their contracts, and Metro One lost the former AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s business in 2003. Metro One launched a customer-direct EDA service in the second half of 2004, but that didn’t stop the eroding of its wireless customers. The company had an agreement with the former Nextel Communications Inc. that Sprint Nextel Corp. nixed, effective Jan. 9, 2006. Alltel Corp. too said last June that it would stop using Metro One’s services.
Metro One’s stock was slated to be taken off the Nasdaq Jan. 27, but the company expected that a hearing on the matter will delay the de-listing.
At the upcoming hearing, “the company intends to present a plan for its continued listing on the Nasdaq National Market,” according to a Metro One statement, and if the listing panel decides that Metro One cannot stay on the national market, the company plans to ask for permission to transfer its common stock to the Nasdaq Capital Market, where it would have until July 17, 2006 to meet the $1 minimum bid price. However, the company noted, “there can be no assurance that it will meet the initial listing requirements for the Nasdaq Capital Market at such time.”
